Yesterday morning I shot in downtown Austin, and here are the shots. I figured I would say something beforehand, but the photos really speak for themselves. I wanted a clean, urban shoot that I could pair with my sometimes-too-serious-for-class outfits, and this was the best opportunity to be polished and pretentious with my huge sunglasses. But ethics ethics ethics are the way to do style, so I can walk you through that.

The trench coat — Express, but old, and I plan on wearing it FOREVER because it makes me feel like a major boss lady. I wore it open and felt the cold air hit that one strip of stomach/chest/neck that was left exposed to the elements. Do I regret leaving it open? Not at all. Did it for the gram. Fashion is pain.***

The turtleneck — Join Life by Zara, the attempt at an ethical line that I supported in the hope that Zara sees that people care about sustainable clothing that has safe dyes and is kinder to the planet. It is a lot thinner than it looks, which I love for layering, but do not recommend if you live in a colder place.

The PANTS (clearly my favorite part) — H&M and super duper old. Vegan leather (of course) and high waisted. Very snazzy if you ask me. I need to get them altered, but I also strangely like the extreme wrinkle action around my ankles.

The flats — Nannette Lepore flats with little bows on the back that make me feel like Carine Roitfeld, or chez Dior circa Raf Simons.

Backpack — boutique somewhere in NYC area. Sorry that was vague. I forgot and it has no tags. BUT it is vegan leather also.

Clearly my soul is dead since I am sporting a head to toe heart of darkness black look, but I enjoy that. And now for the pictures that were all taken by the fantastic photographer Harley Eldridge (so all photo credits go to him)!!! We talked over our vision and met up and made it happen in less than two hours. Here is what you came for, with some light hearted commentary by moi.

My hand was freezing and I actually could not move my fingers that much. That chic pensive expression is actually me feeling really disturbed about my corpse hand.

When someone asks me a dumb question and I put on glasses to hide my expression. AND in case you saw them, let’s dedicate a moment to these vintage 1970s sunglasses — my new child. They make me feel like Cher. Why would’t I want to look like a chic bug-eyed human?

Still totally into the wrinkles around my ankles. I love it love it love it. Also note the perfect isosceles triangles that are my feet.

Laughing at my own jokes because I can be hilarious sometimes. But is it a fake laugh, or not? We may never know.

La Penseuse si elle avait été une femme // The Thinker if she had been a woman.

And that concludes my captions, since these photos are too good for me to continue interrupting them.

Total profile picture status. Okay I’m done *zips lips shut*

This was an amazing post to prepare for, and it really has challenged me to want next level photography all the time. Hopefully the blog continues on this roller coaster that only goes up.

If you are in the Austin area and want next level, editorial style photos, you can find Harley here, and here.

Since I have been gone a while, I’ll let you all in on what I’ve been doing. Besides eating and breathing, I’ve been really thinking about what I mentioned in one of my last post- the true cost behind fashion, and the darker side of fashion that comes with trying to be ‘on trend’ all the time. It has led me to realize that I do have my own sense of style, and that I should instead focus on learning what I actually like to wear and then buy sustainable versions of those items as I give away what I really don’t need or wear. Basically, I need to pare down my wardrobe (which is funny, since I cleared out a bunch of clothing at the beginning of the summer), and learn to not always smack my forehead on the windows of shops the moment I step in any shopping mall. I’ve actually started reciting the mantra “I don’t need it” over and over à la Rebecca Bloomwood (you’re welcome). When I’m near shoes I actually repeat it so much I might as well be humming continuously.

In all seriousness, it was only hard for the first two days. Then the withdrawal – I’m assuming that is what it was- period was over and I moved on. The only hard part is seeing other people buy random stuff they honestly don’t need. I’ve had friends who would go out of their way and buy things simply because they could, but they clearly weren’t very interested in wearing/using the item.

I guess I see that now since I realized that I was the same a few months ago. What a difference a new mentality makes!

Anyway, I have been trying to wear items in my closet multiple ways to prove to myself that they still deserve a spot in my wardrobe rotation. I like the idealistic bloggers who have capsule wardrobes, but I think I might need a while before I get there. For now, figuring out what I actually wear on a regular basis is great!

So the first item on the chopping block was this red scarf I bought a year ago online. My reasons for buying it were questionable; the scarf was red, and I wanted to wear more warm colors. Upon receiving the scarf, I opened the box and was irritated with how obnoxiously red it was. I convinced myself that it wasn’t such an eyesore and wore it out twice. Fast forward to this year and I had worn it twice. Now that I am threatening myself with throwing it out of my closet, I grabbed my basics and figured it out, putting together a seemingly basic outfit. Surprisingly, the black on black packed an awesome punch and the red looked great!

Looks like the scarf won’t be leaving this time around. But I will try to wear it again before I make my final decision(This sounds like a pathetic reality show on TLC where shopaholics/clothing hoarders say bye to their clothes ( except I have half of my original amount of clothes HA) minus the crying).

This week, my kombucha made a cameo appearance. I wish I was a more popular blogger so I could claim some sort of commission on kombucha sales, but alas, I’m not.

Hello everyone! Yes, we are back at it again with the brick wall. If you are an avid blog follower such as myself, you’ve probably noticed that some bloggers refer to their site and themselves as ‘we’ instead of ‘me’ or ‘I’. I don’t know if its done to make the reader feel as if they are an organization or some more elaborate event every time they post, but its always funny to me, especially when the blog is clearly run by one person alone.

Anyway, today I was feeling the long sleeves, and THEN I realized how hot it was outside and realized what a huge mistake I had made wearing this particular top-

Yeah wait, actually I don’t regret it. I went grocery shopping and I needed those sleeves to combat the annoying goosebumps I get in the freezer section.

Sometimes I prefer pulling out things to wear that aren’t necessarily in style at the moment or go with another season.

Today’s look is brought to you by a mix of desperation to wear something that wasn’t open in the sides or was a boring t-shirt to deal with the heat, and a bit of “Well, this looks relatively unwrinkled and hasn’t been worn in so long that it looks lonely” – now seeing these pictures I am intrigued to see what else I can come up with since the hottest part of the summer is yet to come!

This picture was taken a second after the last one in a rapid fire procession by my brother, so that’s why I have the same eyebrow raised. I feel the need to explain why I have my eyebrows raised all the time. I’m not always in a current state of surprise.

Also, yes- I DID cut my hair recently. Those dead ends had to disappear somehow. I forgot how it feels to have a light ponytail again, and what it was like to not stretch out hair bands whenever I made a bun.